Blue Devil Fencers Close Regular Season in Style
The Blue Devil boys and girls fencing teams ended their regular season in thrilling fashion, with each team defeating Newfield by 14-13 scores. And each victory came down to the last match.
The boys’ team was down 11-10 after the last saber round. Then sophomore Ariel Wertheim defeated his opponent 5-2, and junior Dylan Payne won his third bout of the day 5-4 to give the Blue Devils a 12-11 lead. Following a loss by senior Greg James, who earlier had won two bouts in foil, junior epee Vernon O'Garra defeated his opponent 5-4, raising his season record to 31-1 and giving the team a 13-12 lead. Freshman epee John Ferraiollo lost a tough 5-4 decision, which evened the score at 13-13. But senior Kevin Thompson won the last bout 5-1 to clinch the meet and raise the team's record to 6-8.
On the girls’ side, four straight losses after a 9-9 score left the team down 9-13 with five bouts left. The Lady Devils needed to win all five and in the first match, junior Maya Bengston, the No. 3 foil fencer, was pitted against Newfield's No. 1 foil. Maya had split her first two bouts, both of which went to overtime. In her final bout, she was able to overcome a 0-2 deficit and tie the score in the last few seconds of regulation, forcing another overtime. Maya won priority, which meant her opponent had to score to win. After using most of the one-minute overtime, Maya scored on a parry riposte to win the bout 3-2 and keep hope alive.
Senior Nicole Palmer was next, and her bout was a cautious one that saw time run out with the score tied at 2-2. Winning priority meant she could be patient and let the other fencer try to score. But Nicole had different plans. At the start of the overtime she started a long developed attack that took her opponent by surprise and allowed Nicole to win the team's 11th bout of the day, 3-2, in another overtime thriller.
That left it up to the epee squad to capture the final three bouts. Sophomore Johannah Clifford was first up and defeated her opponent 5-3, passing the match on to junior Sarah Conte. Sarah had lost a 4-3 overtime heartbreaker in her first bout, but then defeated Newfield's top epee in her second. In her final bout, she fell behind 1-4. But she didn't lose her poise and methodically climbed back into the match, closing it out 5-4 as time was winding down.
Freshman Olivia Weller entered the final match against Newfield's top epee fencer, whom she had defeated 5-4 earlier this season. Olivia came out aggressively and won 5-1 to clinch the meet for the Lady Devils, who finished the season 8-6.
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